


Dancing

by whatdoicallthis



Series: Romanogers Multi-Chapters [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Almost Kiss, Awesome Natasha Romanov, Baking, Baseball, Bisexual Natasha Romanov, Cake, Comfort, Dialogue Heavy, Domestic Avengers, Domestic Fluff, Eating Lunch Together, Eating Together, Embarrassed Steve Rogers, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Falling In Love, Flirting, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Friends to Lovers, Handcuffs, Holding Hands, Hunger Games References, Hurt/Comfort, Injured Steve Rogers, Kiss cam, Literal Sleeping Together, Lunch, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Movie Night, Natasha Romanov Has Issues, Natasha Romanov Is Not A Robot, Natasha Romanov Is a Good Bro, Natasha Romanov Needs a Hug, Nicknames, Nightmares, Pancakes, Protective Natasha Romanov, Red Room (Marvel), Seduction, Sexual Humor, Sexual Tension, Sharing a Bed, Sleeping Together, Slow Burn, So Married, Steve Rogers and the 21st Century, Team Bonding, Team as Family, They Call Each other Nicknames, They're in love with each other, Titanic References, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Truth or Dare, Undercover as Married, Undercover as a Couple, Unresolved Romantic Tension, Unresolved Sexual Tension, baseball games, but it's playful, clint and tony bond over teasing steve and natasha, falling asleep together, kissing for a mission, maria and natasha used to be friends with benefits, nat has captain america jewelry, steve and nat have bond bracelets!!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-02
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:14:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 19,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25025248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whatdoicallthis/pseuds/whatdoicallthis
Summary: Steve and Natasha have been dancing around each other for years, and everybody can see that. How much longer will they be able deny their feelings towards one another before it all comes out? (I’m gonna throw in the cliché summary disclaimer: I suck at summaries, but the story’s better) (Also, I chose the title “Dancing” because they’re “dancing” around their feelings for each other, but I really just needed a title, so it’s subject to change)
Relationships: Bruce Banner & Natasha Romanov, Bruce Banner & Steve Rogers, Clint Barton & Natasha Romanov, Clint Barton & Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanov & Avengers Team, Natasha Romanov & Thor, Natasha Romanov & Tony Stark, Steve Rogers & Avengers Team, Steve Rogers & Natasha Romanov, Steve Rogers & Thor, Steve Rogers & Tony Stark, Steve Rogers/Natasha Romanov
Series: Romanogers Multi-Chapters [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1812136
Comments: 23
Kudos: 138





	1. Tears and Titanic

Natasha stepped off the elevator groaning. She had just gotten back from a mission, and all she wanted to do was jump into her comfy bed and sleep for hours, but Tony insisted they have a team lunch as soon as she got back. He claimed that she'd been gone for too long and they all missed her.

("Especially Capsicle," he added. She ignored him and hung up before he could say anything else.)

"Little Red!" Tony cried as soon as she was in the kitchen.

"Can we hurry up with this lunch?" she whined. "I'm exhausted, and I just want to sleep."

"Alright, we'll make it quick."

"How was your mission?" Steve asked, appearing right in front of her. Natasha looked up to make eye contact with him and smiled.

"It was good. It was an easy mission, just exhausting. Lots of late nights and early mornings," Natasha explained. "No injuries, though, so that's a plus."

"That's good," Steve said, pulling her into a hug. She melted into him immediately. "I'm glad you're back."

"I'm glad I'm back, too," she replied, her words slightly muffled by his shirt.

"Lunch is served," Tony announced. "You two lovebirds can take your hands off each other and come join the group, now."

"Tony—" Steve started, but Natasha put her hand on his arm to calm him down. She was too tired to deal with their bickering right then.

She sat down next to Steve ("That's really close," Tony muttered) and laced her fingers through his under the table.

"I bet Rogers is happy to have you back," Clint teased offhandedly.

"Oh my God," Natasha groaned, putting her head down on the table. Clint snickered.

"Of course I'm happy to have her back," Steve said, and Natasha gave his hand a squeeze. "We're friends."

"Sure," Tony said. "Just friends."

"You two stop it," Pepper scolded. "Natasha just got back from a mission. Let her eat her lunch in peace."

"Thank you, Pepper," Natasha said, lifting her head up and picking up her fork. "Hey, where's Thor? I thought you said he was gonna be here today."

"He's coming this evening," Bruce explained. "Probably around five or six. Eat as many PopTarts as you want because he's going to clean out our supply."

Natasha nodded and spent the rest of the team lunch listening to everyone's varying conversations. She was exhausted and didn't want to have to deal with the brain power of debating about the best kind of hand sanitizer one second to chatting idly about pilates the next.

"I'm going to bed now," Natasha said about ten minutes later, getting up from her chair. She let go of Steve's hand and immediately missed its presence. "If anyone disturbs me, I will incapacitate you without hesitation."

Everyone nodded in acknowledgement as Natasha left the room.

* * *

When she finally woke up, it was already nine o'clock at night. She rolled out of bed and went to her kitchen for a snack when she found Steve standing in it.

"Steve?" she asked. "What are you doing here? How long have you been standing here?"

"Not long," he said. "I came up to check on you, but you look like you needed sleep, so I was about to leave. I'm sorry if I woke you up."

"You didn't," she assured him. "While you're up here, want to have a movie night? We haven't had one in a while, and I just got back from my mission, so…" She trailed off and looked at him expectantly.

"Sure," he agreed. "What should we watch?"

"Have you seen the _Titanic_ yet?" Natasha suggested. Steve shook his head. "Okay, then we'll watch that."

Steve went to go pop some popcorn, and Natasha got the movie set up. While she waited for Steve to come back, she put a bunch of fluffy blankets and put them on the couch, and she made sure the tissues were within their reach on the coffee table.

"Steve, can you bring in the carton of ice cream that's in the freezer?" Natasha called. "Bring two spoons, too."

"Yes ma'am," Steve called back, and Natasha rolled her eyes. They tended to call each other "sir" or "ma'am" since Steve would always do that when they first met. She made fun of him one time, and then it became a running joke between them.

Natasha had settled down on the couch and snuggled into the blankets by the time Steve came back into the room.

"I come bearing gifts," he said, sitting next to her and putting the food on the coffee table in front of them. Natasha lifted up the blanket for him to get under and scooted closer so their shoulders were touching.

"Beware, it's a sad movie," Natasha said as she hit play. "Personally, I'm not the biggest fan of it, but it's still a good movie. Besides, you can't fully adjust to the twenty-first century without seeing _Titanic_."

"I remember growing up hearing stories about the Titanic," Steve said. "It was supposed to be unsinkable, but then it hit an iceberg and sunk."

"It's really unfortunate for them," Natasha said flatly, reaching in front of her and grabbing the ice cream. Steve laughed.

When it got to the part where Jack and Rose were doing it in the car, Natasha took a big bite of ice cream and groaned.

"It's been so long since I've had sex," she said when she'd swallowed. She glanced over at Steve and saw him blush. "When's the last time you had a good bang?"

"Uh…" Steve stammered. "Like, never?"

"Wait, seriously?" Natasha asked, shocked. "You mean to tell me that _you_ have never had sex? _You?_ With _this_ body?" Natasha closed her previously agape mouth and smirked devilishly. "Was the French girl scene the first time you've seen a woman naked?"

"Erm...possibly," he said. "Before I got the serum, no girl ever looked twice at me. After the serum, I was busy with the war and then the ice, and I didn't really want to hook up with the USO showgirls."

"Maybe we should change that," Natasha muttered, looking back at the screen. She heard Steve choke and bit back a laugh.

"W-what?"

She ignored him and continued to watch the movie, smirking to herself.

* * *

"Why did he have to die?" Natasha cried, blowing her nose in a tissue.

Steve, who was also sobbing, laughed and said, "I thought you didn't like this movie very much."

"That doesn't mean it's not sad!" she yelled. Steve chuckled and wrapped an arm around her, pulling her into a hug as she sobbed into his chest. "Plus he's so hot!"

"Oh, so you're crying because he's hot?"

"And they killed him! They killed Jack! Why not Rose? She's not even that pretty! I mean I'm _way_ hotter than her…"

Steve was full on belly laughing at that point. He leaned back on the couch, still holding Natasha tightly. Natasha looked up from his chest and glared.

"Stop laughing. You were crying, too," she pointed out.

"I'm sorry, I just…" he laughed again, and Natasha smacked his chest. "You're funny. If you're crying this hard at a movie you don't even like that much, I want to see how hard you cry at a movie you love."

She scowled and said, "I've never been more thankful that you don't know a thing about twenty-first century culture."

"Oh, come on. Tell me. Please?" he begged, giving her puppy-dog eyes. She glowered and hit him again.

"Don't give me puppy-dog eyes, Steve," she said, defeated. He just gave her even more puppy-dog eyes. "Ugh. Fine, but we're not watching it tonight. I've embarrassed myself enough as it is."

"So...what is it?" he pressed.

"Finnick's death in _Mockingjay Part 2_ ," she muttered.

"Finnick? What kind of name is Finnick?"

"For your information, Steven Grant, _The Hunger Games_ takes place in a future dystopian society. They all have weird names." She yawned and buried her face in his chest again.

"Maybe you should go to bed," Steve said, rubbing her back. Natasha shook her head fervently and clutched his shirt.

"No," she said. "I feel like I haven't seen you in forever. I don't want to go to bed just yet." Steve grinned and hugged her closer.

"Want to watch something else, then?" he asked. She looked up at him and then shifted so that she was sitting next to him, their arms still around each other as she leaned on him.

"We can watch the first _Hunger Games_ ," she said, "since you're going to insist that we watch _Mockingjay Part 2_ , you need to get caught up with the first three."

"Okay."

Natasha hadn't even made it past the Reaping before she was fast asleep, her head on Steve's shoulder. Steve smiled and managed to make it to the Cornucopia Bloodbath before he, too, fell asleep.


	2. Pancakes and Puppy-Dog Eyes

Natasha groaned and cuddled closer to Steve, who she was using as a pillow. Upon realizing that she was not alone, nor was she in her bed, she quickly opened her eyes to gather her surroundings. She and Steve were still sitting on her couch, surrounded by blankets. Their arms were wrapped tightly around each other, and her head rested on his chest. She looked up, and after seeing that Steve was still sound asleep, she blew on his face.

"Stop it," he muttered sleepily, making a face. She giggled — since when does she _giggle_? — and did it again. "Naaaat…"

"Yes, Steve?" she teased. He blinked his eyes open and looked down at her smiling face. She almost laughed at the look on his face — he looked slightly exasperated with a raised eyebrow, but he was smiling slightly, so it was kinda hard to believe he was _actually_ annoyed — but she didn't and just kept smiling.

"Why so early?"

That time, she did laugh, and she said, "It's not that early. The sun is already out."

"Yeah, but the sun is already out at like eight."

"Says the person who gets up at five AM regularly to run. I would think this would be late for you. JARVIS, what time is it?"

"10:07, Miss Romanoff," JARVIS replied.

"See? You got in an extra five hours of sleep. That's, like, twice your normal amount sometimes," Natasha pointed out.

"But I'm so comfortable," Steve whined.

"You're acting like you just got your wisdom teeth taken out. Just start crying about something, and people won't be able to tell the difference."

"What?"

"Never mind. I'll explain later. Will you make me pancakes?" Natasha begged, pouting her bottom lip and putting on her best puppy-dog eyes.

"Fine, but for the record, only I can pull off the puppy-dog eyes," Steve said, untangling himself from Natasha and getting up. "Maybe just stick with your seduction. You're better at that."

"Oh? And how would you know that?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. He rolled his eyes.

"You tried to seduce me into making you a triple tier chocolate cake a couple weeks ago. It nearly worked, too."

"I know it nearly worked. I felt how it nearly worked." Natasha wiggled her eyebrows suggestively, and Steve blushed heavily. "Besides, I was on my period. I was horny and craving chocolate. I can't believe you didn't bake me that cake!"

Steve was still blushing as he made his way around the kitchen, pulling out ingredients and utensils as he went. Natasha jumped on the counter and crossed her legs as he worked.

"I didn't have the ingredients or the skills to make you a triple tier chocolate cake," he said. "Outside of pancakes, I'm pretty much useless in the kitchen."

"But I was on my _period_."

"And I got you chocolate, motrin, extra tampons, and a heating pad from the store. You should be thankful," he chuckled, looking over his shoulder to where she was perched on the counter.

"I know, and I am thankful, but I'm also pissed that I never got my cake," she pouted.

Steve grinned and said, "How about we go out today and find a bakery that will sell us one? That way you get a decent chocolate cake, and I won't have to embarrass myself."

"I would love that. When you're done with the batter, can I lick the bowl?"

"You wanna eat _pancake batter_?"

"Not a lot. Just a little bit."

"Natasha, that's disgusting."

"It's just like eating cake batter."

"It's really not."

"So can I lick it?"

Steve rolled his eyes and started pouring the batter onto the skillet he uses just for his pancakes.

"Fine, but don't come crying to me when you don't like it, or you get salmonella or something," he relented.

"Yay! And by the way, I don't come crying. I come moaning." She winked and laughed when Steve's face turned beet red.

"I really did not need to know that."

"You would have found out eventually, what with you practically begging me to seduce you."

"I did not _beg_ you to seduce me!"

"Um, I'm pretty sure you did. You said you'd rather me seduce you than use my puppy-dog eyes, which personally, I think are pretty good."

"I did no—"

"JARVIS, play the security footage from that conversation," Natasha interrupted.

"JARVIS, that's not necessary!" Steve said quickly. Natasha snickered and he glared. "Okay, but that's not me _begging_ you to seduce me."

"Close enough. Are those pancakes almost done?" Steve rolled his eyes and handed her the bowl. She cheered happily and stuck her finger in it to lick the batter.

"Do you want chocolate chips in yours?" Steve asked, grabbing a bag of chocolate chips and putting them in some of the pancakes.

"Obviously," Natasha answered. "Do you even have to ask?" Steve rolled his eyes and put the chocolate chips in the rest of the pancakes.

"I don't see how you can eat that," he said, gesturing to the bowl Natasha was eating out of and flipping a pancake. Natasha shrugged as she sucked the pancake batter off of her index finger.

"You should try it," she said, holding out the bowl. Steve shook his head.

"No, thank you."

"Am I going to have to seduce you to get you to try it?"

"I'm never going to live that down, am I?"

"Oh, no, you're not. Embrace it, Rogers." Steve sighed dramatically. "Are you almost done? You're taking so long."

"For someone who can sit in a car for hours at a stakeout, you are really impatient. Yes, the pancakes are almost ready." Steve reached into the cabinet above his head and pulled out two plates. He put three pancakes on each plate and buttered them. He handed her one and said, "Here you go, princess."

"Oh, please," she scoffed, taking the pancakes. "I am at least a queen."

"At least?"

"I would also accept 'goddess.'"

"Thor might be offended by that," Steve joked.

"Then I am a queen. Hand me a knife and fork, servant boy," she ordered. Steve laughed and did what she requested.

"Would you like me to cut it up for you, too?" he asked.

"Yes. Do it." Natasha hopped off the counter and sat down at the table. When Steve finished cutting her pancakes, he brought both plates over and sat across from her.

"Do you want to go after breakfast?" Steve asked after a few minutes.

"Hmm?" Natasha said with a mouthful of pancake. She swallowed and continued, "Go where?"

"To the bakery to get you the cake." She grinned.

"Of course. I just have to get ready. I look like shit."

"You look great. You always look great." Natasha almost blushed at that, but she quickly repressed it and took another bite of pancake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Personally, I've never eaten pancake batter before, so I don't know if it's good or bad, so I included both perspectives. I've never heard of anyone eating pancake batter before, so I assume it's bad, and Natasha's just being weird ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯


	3. Cake and Kisses

After breakfast, they each went back to their respective rooms to get ready, and then met back up on Natasha's floor.

"While we're out," she said as they stepped into the elevator, "can we get lunch, too?"

"We just had breakfast, like, fifteen minutes ago," Steve pointed out.

"I know, but by the time we have the cake it'll be lunchtime, and I will be very hungry." Steve laughed and gently put his hand on her lower back as they got out of the elevator. Natasha raised an eyebrow and bit her lip to prevent herself from smiling.

"I hope you know good bakeries because I don't know any," Steve said when they got outside. Natasha laughed and grabbed his hand, dragging him along as she walked.

"Lucky for you, I know a great one about six blocks away. There's also this cute little café near it, and we can go eat there for lunch."

"Sounds perfect."

After several minutes of walking in comfortable silence, Natasha shifted her hand and laced her fingers through his. Steve glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, but Natasha was just staring straight ahead with a small smile on her face.

"Here it is," she said suddenly, stopping in front of a store and dragging him inside.

"How may I help you?" someone asked, coming out of a door that looked like it led to a kitchen. She was wearing a hairnet, an apron, and plastic gloves, and she made her way behind the cash register next to the display case of cookies and other baked goods.

"Can we have a three tiered chocolate cake with chocolate icing?" Steve asked.

"Of course! I can have it ready in a couple hours if that works for you," the lady said cheerfully.

"That's perfect. Thank you."

Steve paid for the cake and gave the lady his number, so he would get a call when the cake was ready.

"Thank you for doing this, Steve," Natasha said when they stepped through the door.

"It's nothing," he replied nonchalantly. Natasha stopped and turned to face him, resting her hand on his shoulder lightly.

"No, I'm serious. It means a lot," she said, and she stood on her tiptoes and brushed her lips over his cheek. Steve blushed lightly.

"Well, I mean you're not going to be able to eat that entire cake by yourself, so I guess I'll have to help you," he teased, which caused Natasha to roll her eyes and shove him playfully.

"You ass," she laughed. She linked her arm through his and started towards a small café next door. "I'm hungry, and I'm paying."

"What? No—"

"I'm paying," she interrupted forcefully. "You paid for the cake, which was definitely a lot more expensive than a meal for two at a café. You're lucky I let you do that without complaints. Now I'm paying for lunch."

Steve gave Natasha a _really?_ look before he relented.

"Fine. You can pay."

"Yay!"

"But next time we're out, I'm paying."

"Getting a little ahead of ourselves now, are we?"

"What would you like today?" the cashier asked, interrupting their conversation.

"I'll have the club with a Dr. Pepper," Natasha ordered. She turned to Steve. "What do you want?"

"Um, I'll have the turkey on rye with a Coke, please," he said.

"Alrighty. That'll be $12.52." Natasha reached into her wallet to pull out her card, but before she could get it out, Steve hip-bumped her and pushed her out of the way, giving the cashier his own card.

"Steve!" Natasha cried. "You said I could pay!"

Steve gave her a shit-eating grin and replied, "I lied." He laughed as Natasha hit him repeatedly on the arm.

He took his receipt and his card back from the cashier as he said, "You're order number twenty-nine. I can help the next customer over here!"

"I can't believe you did that," Natasha muttered as she and Steve moved to stand next to the sign that said, "Wait here for your order to be called."

"You should have realized something was up when I gave in so easily," Steve said. "Come on, Nat. You're literally a _spy_. I thought you were better than this."

She stuck her tongue out at him and said, "Shut it, Rogers."

"Order number twenty-eight!" someone called, and a woman with a stroller walked over to collect her meal. "Order number twenty-nine!"

"That's us," she said. "Next time you pull a stunt like that, I won't hesitate to choke you with my thighs."

"I don't see how that's a problem," Steve joked. Natasha's eyebrows shot up as she grabbed both of their plates. Steve grabbed their drinks and followed her out onto the patio.

"Wow, Rogers. Didn't really take you for the kinky type," she said once she sat down. "Were you begging me to seduce you again?"

"Seriously, Natasha?" Steve asked exasperatedly, a faint blush appearing on his cheeks.

"Oh, come on. You literally just told me you wanted your face between my legs with a completely straight face, and you're blushing from _that_?" She laughed when Steve's blush deepened.

"God, Natasha, don't put it like that!"

"I'm just stating it like it is. Just admit it. You're sexually attracted to me."

"So how are you liking your sandwich?"

* * *

A little over an hour later, after they finished their lunch and chatted for a little bit, Natasha said, "There's a little boutique a few blocks down. Wanna go?"

"Lead the way, ma'am."

"Of course, good sir." Natasha linked her arm through his again as they exited from a little gate nearby. "I don't get why you get so embarrassed when I talk about sex."

"What?"

"Why do you get so embarrassed? You were in the army. I'm sure you heard about a lot of even worse things," she pointed out.

"Well, yeah," he said, "but when we talked it was less, 'Steve, I'm gonna choke you with my thighs,' and more, 'Guys, guess what me and so-and-so did last night.' It's different when it's turned around on you. I remember always getting flustered whenever Bucky or one of my Howling Commandos asked me stuff."

"Ah, I see. Well, welcome to the twenty-first century, Cap, where flirting is ninety percent sex jokes."

"So you admit you're flirting with me," Steve said, poking her in the side. She squirmed a bit, and Steve raised his eyebrows in amusement. "Are you ticklish?"

She just hummed in response, not answering either question, and said, "Oh, look at that. We're here." She unlinked their arms and headed inside as Steve followed close behind. "Oh my God, they have an Avengers section."

Natasha made a beeline to the Avengers section and picked up a Captain America plushie.

"Look! They have you! You're so cute as a stuffed animal," she teased.

"Does it count as a stuffed animal if it's modeled after a human?" Steve asked, picking up a Black Widow plushie.

"You're made of animal cells." She paused and looked at the plushie he was holding. "You should get that," she suggested, gesturing to the plushie. "That way you'll be able to cuddle me every night."

Steve rolled his eyes and said, "Why cuddle with the stuffed animal when I have the real thing a couple floors down?" He paused for a minute and then said, "I'll get this, and you can get the Captain America one."

"Deal," Natasha agreed, and as Steve turned to go pay for his, she saw a pair of his shield earrings and grabbed them. She stood behind Steve at the register as he finished paying and his phone rang.

"It's probably the bakery," he said, stepping aside. "Hello?"

Natasha put the earrings and plushie on the counter and the older lady behind it scanned them.

"Eleven even," she said, and Natasha handed over her card. The lady pulled out a plastic bag and started bagging her stuff. "Would you like the receipt?"

"No thanks," Natasha said, and the lady ripped the receipt off of the printer, crumpled it up, and tossed it in a recycling bin.

"Our cake is ready," Steve said as Natasha caught up to him.

He held the door open for her, and she smiled in thanks and said, "I bought something else while we were in there." She reached in her bag and pulled out the earrings, showing them to him.

"Captain America earrings?"

"Yep!" She put them in and said, "You like?"

"I love."


	4. Tongues and Tickling

Steve and Natasha sat on her living room floor in front of the TV, which was playing the rest of _The Hunger Games_. JARVIS had paused it as soon as Steve fell asleep, so they could pick up where they left off when they wanted to watch it again. In between them was the top tier of the cake, which they were eating with forks.

"Wait, so that's the little girl that was watching them from behind a corner, right?" Steve asked with a mouthful of cake.

"Don't talk with your mouth full, Steve," Natasha admonished playfully, "and yes. That's Rue, and she's twelve. I love her. Her death was one of the saddest."

"Wait, she _dies_?" Steve gasped. Natasha rolled her eyes.

"Yes, Steve. That's how the Hunger Games work. Everybody but one dies."

"Wait, so does that mean Peeta dies? Because they have more movies after this, and they can't have them without Katniss, and if they're both in the games, then that means Peeta dies, right?"

Natasha hesitated, unsure of how to respond without spoiling the movie, but after a second she said, "Just watch the movie, Stevie."

" _Stevie?"_

"Stevie bear? Stevie pooh? Sweetie pie? Honey bunch?" Steve glared at her and she laughed. "Okay, fine. Baby cakes it is, then."

"Natasha…" Steve whined.

"What is it, baby cakes?"

"Don't call me nicknames, cuddle muffin." Natasha raised her eyebrows and let out a bark of a laugh.

" _Cuddle muffin?_ Are you serious?"

"What? Do you not like that one? What about 'cutie patootie'?" Steve teased.

"I hate you, baby cakes."  
"Aw, no you don't, cutie patootie. You love me." Natasha rolled her eyes and smeared a handful of cake all over his face.

"Oh, you're gonna pay for that one, baby boo," Steve growled, grabbing a handful of cake himself and smudging it all over her face. Natasha shrieked and tackled him, jumping over the cake. She pinned his arms above his head, but she was so distracted from their laughter and the cake that Steve took his chance and flipped them over.

"What the hell, huggy bear?" she cried, and Steve started laughing again.

Natasha's gaze flickered to his lips before she quickly snapped out of it, shaking her head slightly. Steve didn't notice; he was still laughing.

"We're missing our movie," Natasha chuckled, pushing him off of her and sitting back in her spot. Steve wiped his face off with his hand and ate the cake, causing Natasha to groan in disgust.

"Ew, did you just lick your hand?"

"No. I licked the cake on my hand."

"Which means you licked your hand."

"Yes."

"That's disgusting, hot stuff."

"But the cake is delicious, jelly bean, and I can't let it go to waste." He followed his statement by licking the rest of the cake off his hand slowly and dramatically.

"You disgust me," Natasha said to prevent herself from thinking how much she wanted that tongue to be somewhere else. _Bad, Natasha!_ "If you can lick all that cake off your hand with just two licks, it makes me wonder what else that tongue can do." Well, there goes that plan. At least she was joking about it instead of imagining it while eye fucking him, though.

She quirked an eyebrow and smirked as Steve blushed and sputtered.

"Er...I— _Natasha!_ "

"Aw, are we forgoing the pet names, kitten?" she pouted, and Steve rolled his eyes.

"You still have cake all over your face," he pointed out.

"Why don't you use that amazing tongue of yours to lick it off?"

"Natasha…" he warned.

"What? You like getting seduced by me. You even admitted it yourself," she said, but she grabbed a napkin and started wiping her face anyways.

"Oh my God."

"Let's watch the movie now, love bug."

"Whatever you say, princess."

They turned back to the movie just in time to see Rue get speared and Katniss shoot Marvel. Natasha felt herself tear up as she watched Rue die, and a tear rolled down her cheek as Steve said, "Oh dear. Is she dead?"

"Steve!" Natasha sobbed, more tears rolling down her face. "How can you say that and not cry?"

"Are you okay, munchkin?" he asked, peering over at her and seeing her tear-streaked, red, puffy face.

"No! How can you be okay with this?" she cried, gesturing wildly to the TV as Katniss placed flowers around Rue's body.

Steve moved the cake in front of them and scooted closer to Natasha so their sides were fully touching, and he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Natasha leaned into him and sobbed into his chest. She felt him chuckle and shot up.

"Are you laughing at me, muffinhead?" she asked, still crying, but managing to fit in a joke.

Steve chuckled again and said, "You know, whenever we have a team movie night, I never see you cry, and we've watched some pretty sad stuff. Some of it even made Tony cry."

"Do you really expect me to cry around them? I don't care when it's just you." Steve smiled at the thought of Natasha being comfortable enough around him to be vulnerable, even if it's just about a movie. He squeezed her shoulders, and she pulled away from him, wiping her eyes.

"You good?" he asked. Natasha nodded and picked up her fork, stabbing the cake and shoving it in Steve's face.

"Open up," she demanded. Steve raised an eyebrow, and she rolled her eyes. "Come on. Just do it. I'm feeding you. It's romantic."

"We aren't a couple."

"So? Just take the goddamn bite, Rogers."

"Okay, you feisty little one," he said with a smile, leaning over and eating the cake off her fork. "My turn." He picked up his fork and did the same thing, and Natasha ate it without complaint. "Are you happy now, pookie?"

"Very," she answered, leaning over and giving him a swift kiss on the cheek. Steve blushed, but Natasha just turned back to the TV.

When Peeta and Katniss kissed, Natasha turned to Steve and asked, "When was your first kiss?"

"What?"

"When was your first kiss?" she repeated.

Steve shrugged and said, "It was one of Bucky's sisters when we were little. We were playing truth or dare, and I got dared to kiss her." Steve looked like he was about to continue, as if he was about to ask her what hers was, so she quickly intervened.

"Wow," she said, cutting him off before he could even completely open his mouth. "That was not romantic at all."

"No, it wasn't. I think the only romantic kiss I've ever had was with Peggy, but that was more of a goodbye kiss than anything else. The romance in my life has kind of been lacking."

"Finally. Something about you that I can relate to," Natasha joked, and Steve laughed. "We need to get out more."

"We got out plenty today," Steve reminded her. "Besides, I'm pretty sure everyone we encountered thought we were a couple." Natasha raised an eyebrow at that.

"Oh? What makes you say that?" Steve blushed.

"Er...well—it's just that—you're—you know, we're a girl and a guy that are about the same age, and we're very close friends, so obviously we were very close, and we were kind of holding hands and—" he cut off when Natasha started laughing.

"Relax, Steve," she said. "Breathe. It's fine. I get what you're saying. Besides, I was just messing with you."

"Yeah."

Steve wrapped his arm around her waist as they started paying attention to the movie again, and Natasha automatically leaned into him. When his fingers accidentally brushed lightly against her side, she squirmed, and Steve grinned. He almost forgot about his little discovery from earlier. He started tickling her for real, and she squirmed more and started giggling.

"Steve, stop!" she whined breathlessly through giggles. Steve's pupils dilated at the sound of her breathless voice, and he felt a flush creeping up his neck, but he ignored it and continued tickling her.

"No. No, I don't think I will," he replied, turning so that he was facing her completely. He used his other hand to start tickling her side, and her breathless giggles turned into full on laughter.

"Steve!" she laughed as she fell backwards so that she was lying on the floor. He leaned over her, and she tried to push him off, but her attempts were fruitless. "Stop it!"

"You see, you're asking me to stop, but you look so happy," Steve teased. "I just can't believe your claims."

"Oh my God, Steve!" She reached up to him and started tickling his sides, and his attacks on her ceased as he fell on top of her with laughter.

"That's not fair!" he cried through laughs.

"I think it's perfectly fair. You tickled me, so I get to tickle you!"

Soon they were nothing but a pile of giggles, rolling around on the floor and tickling each other.

"We're missing the movie," Natasha pouted after they both calmed down. They were out of breath and panting heavily, and Natasha pushed Steve off of her so she could sit up. On the screen, Seneca Crane just announced that the rule change has been revoked, and there can only be one victor.

"What? Are you serious?" Steve cried. "They can't do that! They can't tell them that there can be two victors and then take it back at the last second!"

"Well they just did," Natasha said flatly.

"But that's not right!"

"It's _The Hunger Games_ , Steve. Nothing is right."

* * *

After the movie ended, they started the next one, but JARVIS interrupted when they were about halfway through saying that "Mr. Stark requested them all for dinner."

"We might as well take at least one of the layers up to dinner," Steve suggested. "There's no way we can eat the rest of it by ourselves."

"I'm sure we could. You have quite the appetite," Natasha said. "But yeah...we can bring it, I guess, but we're bringing the second layer. We're saving the big one for both of us."

"As you wish, Buttercup," Steve said, and both of Natasha's eyebrows shot up.

" _The Princess Bride_? I thought you tuned that entire movie out," she accused.

"I have to admit, it wasn't my favorite, but you showed it to me, so I paid attention. If Stark had chosen it for one of our movie nights, I would have just slept through the entire thing," he admitted.

"I'm not the biggest fan of that movie, either, but you can't walk through life in the twenty-first century without having seen it, like _Titanic_ ," she said. "Come on, Westley. Grab the second layer of the cake and let's go."

Everyone was already there when Steve and Natasha arrived, the cake in tow.

"Finally. I was going to ask JARVIS what was taking you guys so long, but I felt like I didn't really want to know," Tony said.

"Shut it, Stark, or you don't get any cake," Natasha snapped as Steve set the cake on the counter. Tony immediately perked up.

"Cake?"

"Yes, but if you're a douche, you won't get any," she replied with fake sweetness. She addressed the rest of the team. "We got a cake today, and we decided to share some of it with you, even though we definitely could have eaten it all on our own."

"Yeah, I'm sure you two work up a big appetite quite often," Tony muttered, and Natasha glared at him.

"Stark! No cake for you. And for the record, we are not together."

Steve, who was bright red, nodded in agreement and sat down at the table. Natasha sat down between him and Clint, who gave her a once-over and quirked an eyebrow.

"Not together, huh?" he asked quietly.

"What?" Natasha whispered back. His eyes shifted to her ears, and when she realized what she was looking at, she had to fight back a blush. "Shut up."

"You're the one wearing the Captain America earrings and saying he's not your boyfriend," Clint said.

"He's not."

"Tasha, you two act more like a couple than Laura and I do, and we're married," Clint said after he glanced around to make sure no one was eavesdropping and lowered his voice even more. He still hadn't told anyone about his family, and he didn't want them finding out yet.

"We do not!" she hissed.

"Yes, you do. You guys flirt all the time, and you spend all day every day together. You're closer than some couples who have been married for years. We're all just waiting for the day you two wake up and realize your feelings and then go tear off each other's clothes."

"I'm done talking to you about this," Natasha said, turning away from him and to her food. She felt Steve's hand touch her thigh, in a gesture of comfort, and immediately relaxed. She covered his hand with hers, and he turned his over and laced their fingers together. She saw Clint, who watched the entire exchange, raise his eyebrow, but she just glared at him and ate her dinner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This takes place between Avengers and CA:TWS, but closer to TWS, and they all stay at Avengers Tower because I said so.


	5. Dinners and Drinking

Natasha groaned as she wrapped a lock of hair around her curling iron. Tony was forcing them to do another team dinner (seriously, what is it with this guy and team dinners?), but this time it was at a formal restaurant nearby. She was currently standing in front of her bathroom mirror with a full face of makeup and a bathrobe, and she was almost done curling her hair.

"Not a fan of formal dinners?" a voice asked from her bedroom door. Natasha jumped, took the curling iron away from her hair to reveal a fresh, bouncy curl, and spun around to see Steve standing in her doorway. He was wearing a black suit and a navy blue tie with a white button-up shirt underneath.

"Don't sneak up on me when I'm holding a curling iron next to my face," she snapped, turning back to the mirror to finish her hair. She saw Steve's reflection hold up his hands in surrender.

"You're literally the best spy at S.H.I.E.L.D. and you couldn't hear me coming up behind you? You're standing in front of a mirror, and I wasn't exactly being quiet," he said, moving from her bedroom doorway to stand next to her at the bathroom counter.

"Shut up," she muttered, finishing her last curl and grabbing a can of hairspray. "Stand back and cover your eyes, pudding."

"Pudding?" Steve questioned, but he did as he was told while Natasha smothered her hair in hair spray. When he heard her stop, he opened his eyes and stood next to her again.

"Why are you here?" she asked, leaving the bathroom and finding her dress. It was a navy blue dress that fell a couple inches above her knees and hugged her curves perfectly. She smirked when she realized that she and Steve were matching.

"Why not, shmoopie?"

"'Shmoopie.' I like that one. It's fun to say. _Shmoopie_." Steve chuckled, and Natasha looked back down at her dress, her eyes occasionally flicking over to his tie. "You know, everyone is going to give us shit about matching," she said, holding out her dress and gesturing to his tie. He blushed and stammered.

"Er—I can go change my tie, if you want," he offered. Natasha laughed and shook her head.

"No, no, don't do that. I like matching with you," she said. "I have a feeling Tony and Clint won't leave us alone anyways." She held up the necklace she was wearing, and instead of seeing the arrow that was normally there, Steve saw his shield.

"You got a shield necklace, too?" he asked bemusedly.

"Yeah. I went down to the boutique this morning and bought it." She laid her dress on the bed, turned around, and started untying her robe. "Changing," she said, before abruptly dropping the robe. Steve blushed deeply and quickly turned around.

"Nat," he whined, "couldn't you give at least a little more warning?" He heard her giggle.

"Nope." There was the sound of rustling clothes and then she spoke again. "I'm decent. Can you zip me?"

"Yeah, sure." Natasha was standing with her back to him, holding her hair, so it wouldn't get in the way of the zipper. The dress was unzipped so that the zipper in question was resting on the lowest part of her back, right above her backside. After he zipped her up, she turned around and faced him, their bodies not even an inch apart.

"Thank you," she breathed.

"No problem."

Natasha glanced towards his lips and wondered what it would be like to kiss him, but before she could make that decision, JARVIS interrupted them.

"Mr. Stark requests your presence in the lobby immediately and wishes me to tell you to 'hurry the F up,'" he said. "His words, not mine. He ordered that I quote him exactly."

"Thank you, JARVIS," Steve said. He looked back down at her and held his elbow out for her to take. "Shall we?"

"We shall," she said cheerfully, placing her hand in the crook of his elbow and grabbing her heels from the floor. As she walked out of her room and towards the elevator, she tried to ignore the loud pounding of her heart, but it was hard since she could hear it so clearly. She couldn't shake the thought that she liked being so coupley with Steve lately, and it unnerved her.

* * *

"You have a Captain America necklace, too?" Clint whispered after they got in one of Tony's Audis. Natasha was sitting in between him and Steve ("Smallest gets the middle!" Clint had yelled after he ran like a child to the car), but she was noticeably pressed up against Steve more. She glared.

"Shut up," she hissed.

"Where are you getting these things?"

"None of your business. Drop it."

"I'll drop it when you admit you have feelings for him."

"When you admit you have feelings for who?" Steve chimed in. Natasha's eyes widened and she glared at Clint before turning back to Steve.

"No one."

"Little Red has a crush on somebody?" Tony piped up from the driver's seat. Tony, Pepper, Steve, Natasha, and Clint were riding in one car, while Bruce, Thor, Rhodey, and Happy were riding in the other.

"No, I don't," Natasha said forcefully.

"Yes, she does," Clint said. Natasha punched him in the arm. "Ow!"

"Quit being a baby," she murmured. "I don't."

"I bet I know who it is," Tony said. He looked in the rearview mirror and winked at her. "You even matched your dress to his tie."

"I don't have a 'crush' on anybody, and Steve and I matching was purely coincidental. Now shut up about my love life before I castrate both of you."

When they got to the restaurant, they were shown into a private room up near the top of the building. One of the walls was entirely glass, so they had an amazing view of the New York skyline. There were three different bottles on the table: one was wine, one was champagne, and one was vodka. Natasha grabbed the bottle of vodka and opened it, taking a long swig.

"What?" she asked when everyone looked at her. "It's not like any of you were going to drink it."

"I admire a lady who can drink," Thor boomed from the other end of the table. "Many of the best lady warriors on Asgard have quite a high tolerance."

Steve was sitting next to Natasha, much to Clint and Tony's amusement.

"Remember," Tony started, looking right at Steve and Natasha, "that this is a formal dinner, and there are other people around. Please keep your hands to yourself, and no body parts should be going places they're not supposed to, like inside another person."

Pepper hit Tony upside the head hard enough for him to cry out in mild pain. Steve blushed heavily, and Natasha glared.

"I'm going to kill him as soon as we get back to the compound," she muttered to Steve. "Slowly and painfully."

"I'll help," Steve responded, still blushing.

After Tony, and by extension, Clint, received a long lecture about proper decency and other people's private lives from Pepper, their food had arrived. Pepper had given the restaurant everyone's orders when they booked the room, so they didn't need to order while they were there.

"Boom, you looking for this?" Rhodey said, proudly finishing a story of some sorts. Natasha wasn't entirely sure. She tuned everyone out as soon as her plate of chicken alfredo was placed in front of her.

Rhodey looked like he was about to crack up laughing, but everyone around the table was just giving him a blank stare.

"I said, 'Boom, you looking for this?'" he repeated. More blank stares. "Why do I even talk to you guys? Everywhere else that story kills." There were a few incoherent murmurs around the table as everyone turned back to their food.

Tony, who was sitting next to Rhodey, slapped him on the back and said, "It's okay, bud. One day, you'll get a story just as awesome as me." Rhodey scowled and chugged the rest of his wine.

"What do you guys do all day?" Tony asked abruptly, looking at Steve and Natasha. Steve and Natasha looked back with a curious look (Steve) and a raised eyebrow (Natasha). "You only interact with other people during training or missions or dinner, and the rest of the day you're locked away in one of your rooms or something."

"He spends the entire day drawing me like one of his French girls," Natasha said flatly. Steve, who was drinking some of his wine when she said that, started coughing. Natasha rubbed his back as everyone looked at the pair with wide eyes. Thor just looked around in confusion.

"I do not understand. Was that a reference of some sort?" he asked.

"It's from a movie," Bruce explained. "Ask Jane to show it to you or something."

"Of course! I am going to New Mexico to visit her soon. I shall ask her then."

"Wait...seriously?" Clint asked, turning the conversation back around to Steve and Natasha.

"No, of course not. That was called sarcasm," Natasha said.

"How did Cap understand that reference?" Tony asked. "Did he actually watch _Titanic_?"

"Yes, I did."

"I showed it to him."

"Little Red, was he a sputtering mess when they fu—"

"Okay, that's enough," Pepper interrupted. "Let's steer the subject away from where this conversation is headed."

"I agree," Bruce chimed in. Steve and Natasha nodded in agreement and resumed eating their respective meals.

Unfortunately for them, Natasha was left-handed, so she and Steve kept bumping elbows. They were both used to it at that point, but Steve thought it would be funny to nudge her back even harder, so a nudge war ensued. Clint and Tony found that very entertaining, so they naturally started teasing them about it.

"Enough. Am I going to have to make you two wait in the car?" Pepper scolded Clint and Tony.

They pouted and mumbled a "No, ma'am," before eating their dinners, a little more put out than they were a few minutes earlier.

Natasha did notice a twinkle in Pepper's eye, however, and she fought the urge to roll hers. Even though Pepper defended them against Clint and Tony's teasing, which she will be eternally grateful for, even she thought they were made for each other.

If Natasha was being honest with herself, though, she hoped that they were right.

That didn't stop her from teasing Steve, though.

"Hey, what about that girl from R&D at SI? We met her the other day. Anna, I think?" she whispered.

"Natasha, is this really the time?" Steve replied exasperatedly. "We're at dinner right now."

"I'm just saying…" Steve rolled his eyes, but Natasha continued. "You need a date. You're still a virgin, Steve. You need to get laid."

"I do not need to get laid. I'm perfectly fine on my own, thank you."

Natasha raised an eyebrow at that.

"Oh really?"

Steve blushed and stammered, "I-I didn't mean it like that. I just meant that sex isn't my top priority right now."

"Who would have thunk that America's golden boy has a relationship with his hand?" Natasha mused playfully, taking another swig of her vodka.

"Natasha—"

"Relax. I'm just messing you. I think we both know who you _really_ want to bang," she said with a wink. "After all, you do beg me to seduce you."

"Natasha…"

Natasha just snickered and shoved a bite of chicken alfredo in her mouth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: I wanted them to wear red, but then Steve's tie would have been red, and that felt too Trump-y. Also I realized while writing this chapter that I said in the first chapter that Thor would be in here and I never included him, so I added him in here. Whoops.


	6. Missions and Missiles

The next day, Steve was called in to S.H.I.E.L.D. to debrief for a mission. Afterwards, he went back to the tower to get ready. He stopped at Natasha's floor first where he knew she was waiting for him.

"Well?" Natasha asked when she heard him. She poked her head from around the corner to signify that she was in her living room. "What's the mission for?"

"They found another HYDRA base in Asia. I'm going to help take it down," he explained. "I'll be gone for two weeks, minimum."

"Two weeks?" she breathed. When she realized how vulnerable she sounded, she cleared her throat and continued. "Damn. They haven't sent you on a mission that long yet."

"I know. Fury said it should be one of my toughest yet. Apparently, it's a really big base littered with highly trained officers, and I need to go undercover, too. That's why it's taking so long."

She raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure you're ready for that?" she teased. He rolled his eyes.

"I'll be fine, Nat. Don't worry about me. I have to be back at S.H.I.E.L.D. in an hour, though," he said, starting to head for the elevator.

"Steve?" she called when he pressed the button.

"Yeah?" When he turned around, Natasha was making her way towards him. She pulled him into a hug and kissed him on the cheek, closer to his mouth than normal.

"Be safe," she whispered when she pulled back.

"I will," he replied as the elevator dinged and the doors started to open. "Don't stay up all night worrying about me, though. Pining isn't really your style."

She rolled her eyes and pushed him into the elevator when it was completely open.

"You're an ass. Now go kick some, and make sure you come back home in one piece."

"I will."

* * *

Natasha was a mess. For two weeks, she was so distraught that even _Thor_ could tell she was upset. Thor wasn't even on Earth half the time. She silently cursed herself for being so weak. She was a badass, ass-kicking spy, not someone who mopes around pining for some man to get home. He wasn't even her boyfriend, for fuck's sake!

 _You can still be a badass, ass-kicking spy and be in love_ , a little voice that sounded remarkably like Clint said in her head.

_Shut up._

…

_And I'm not in love with him._

It'd only been a week since he was sent away, and she was overcome with worry. What if he got hurt? What if they figure him out? Not that she didn't have faith in Steve, but he wasn't the best at undercover ops, so it was a very real possibility. It was also his first undercover mission without her there, which didn't help matters. Fury even said it was his toughest mission yet, and the thought of that just made the pit in her stomach worse.

She had taken to wearing the sweatshirts and sweatpants she'd stolen from Steve over the course of their friendship. When she'd run out of those, she broke into his room to steal more.

That's what she was doing when Clint interrupted her. She had just taken off the sweatshirt she already had on and put on another, taking a deep breath to inhale his lingering scent.

"Whatcha doin'?" Clint asked abruptly, startling her. She whipped around and saw him leaning against the doorway.

More proof that she's going soft. She'd been snuck up on twice in the past month, and one of them was a massive super soldier that was definitely not quiet.

"Nothing," she answered, grabbing the tossed sweatshirt up off the ground.

"Why are you stealing Rogers's sweatshirts?"

"They're comfortable."

"Mhm. And why did you sniff it?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

Clint raised an eyebrow but let the subject drop.

"Why are you on his floor? Do you have a thing for Rogers, too?" she asked.

"So you admit that you have a thing for Rogers," he said, smirking devilishly. Natasha blushed despite herself.

"That's not the point. You're avoiding the question."

"I couldn't find you on your floor, so I asked JARVIS where you were. I wanted to see if you wanted to watch a movie or something," he explained.

"Yeah. I get to pick, though."

"Fine, but only because I love you and I know you're pining right now," Clint teased, sticking his tongue out and running before she could react.

* * *

A week and a half later, Steve had finally returned. She was at S.H.I.E.L.D. when she got the news. Fury found her in her office to tell her.

"Where is he?" she asked, quickly getting up and heading for the door.

"Medical," he said shortly, turning on his heel and leaving.

Natasha felt the breath rush out of her lungs before she snapped back to reality and started sprinting. If Steve was in medical, then that meant that he was in really bad shape.

Luckily, everyone figured that if the Black Widow was sprinting through the halls of S.H.I.E.L.D. at full speed then they should probably get out of the way. It made her trip very easy, and she didn't have to maim anyone.

She found her car in the garage and broke at least fifty traffic laws and every single speed limit to get to the S.H.I.E.L.D. hospital.

"I'm here to see Captain Rogers," Natasha said breathlessly to the receptionist.

"Room 304," she replied, not looking up from her computer. Natasha thanked her and took off running again.

She found Rumlow standing outside his door.

"How is he?" she asked, skidding to a stop. As much as she hated Rumlow, he was the only person around that could give her any information. He was also part of Steve's backup, so he would know what happened.

"Bad."

"What happened?"

"The mission blew up in our faces," he responded. "Literally. Several bombs went off as soon as he stepped inside the base, and a couple more after that. Steve was caught right in the middle of the fire. He's lucky to be alive, frankly. His heart stopped twice on the flight back here."

"Why are you alive, then?" she said bluntly.

"STRIKE and I were positioned a little ways out. He gave us orders to come in after his say so."

Natasha nodded. Of course he would risk himself first. She pushed past Rumlow and burst into Steve's room, gasping at the sight of him.

He was lying unconscious on the hospital bed with several tubes poking out of him. There was an oxygen mask covering his nose and mouth, and his face and arms had several stitches visible. She was sure there were others on the parts of him she couldn't see.

Natasha had never seen him like this. She didn't even know that he _could_ be like this. Captain America was supposed to be practically invincible. She knew that wasn't true, however. She'd known him long enough to see him injured several different times, but none of them were like this. From what she'd heard from Rumlow, she was shocked he wasn't dead.

She sat down in the chair next to his bed and took his limp hand in hers. It was cold, and she bit her lip to stop herself from crying. It didn't work, though, and she saw more than felt a tear run down her face and drip onto his hand.

"You said you were going to be safe," she whispered as more tears fell. "What happened to coming back to me in one piece?"

She didn't know how long she was sitting there, staring at Steve's almost lifeless body. The only things reassuring her that he was still alive was the constant beeping of machines and the steady rise and fall of his chest. Several pairs of footsteps broke her out of her reverie, and when she looked up to see Tony, Bruce, Clint, and Thor standing in the room, she realized the sun was already starting to set.

"Is he okay?" Tony asked, breaking the silence that Natasha had gotten so used to.

"He's alive," she answered, her voice rough from disuse. "He got really lucky."

"What happened?" Bruce asked.

"According to Rumlow, several bombs were set off as soon as he walked into the base, and a few more after that. He was caught right in the middle of the fire. H-he almost didn't make it." Her voice broke at the end, and the tears that had stopped a little while ago started back. Clint walked over to her and pulled her up into a hug. She hugged him back and buried her face in his neck as she cried silently.

The others stood there awkwardly, not knowing how to react. They'd never seen Natasha cry before.

After a few minutes, Natasha pulled away and wiped her tears. Clint held out something for her, and she took it, realizing it was one of Steve's sweatshirts. She hadn't even realized he was holding something. She tugged it on over her head and sat back down, hugging her legs to her chest and resting her chin on her knees.

"Is he going to wake up anytime soon?" Tony asked, and Natasha shrugged.

She jumped slightly when she felt a strong hand pat her on the shoulder.

"Fret not, Natasha," Thor said in a quieter tone than usual. It was still extremely loud, but it was significantly softer than his normal volume. "I'm sure Steven will wake up soon. He's a mighty warrior."

"Thanks, Thor," she said.

"How long have you been here?" Tony asked abruptly, and Natasha shrugged again. "More than a couple hours?" Natasha nodded — she assumed it'd been more than a couple hours, anyways. "You definitely haven't eaten yet." Natasha shook her head. "You definitely don't want to leave his side," a violent head shake from Natasha, "so we'll go bring some food back for all of us. We're going to go somewhere nice because the hospital food's shit."

"Bring something back for Steve in case he wakes up soon," she requested, and Tony nodded.

"Will do. Be back in a bit."

Natasha uncurled her legs and leaned over on Steve's bed, resting her head on her arms.

"Please wake up soon," she mumbled deliriously, yawning. "I love you."

* * *

When Natasha woke up, it was not to the smell of takeout and Thor's booming voice. It was to the feeling of someone's hand running through her hair. She looked up and saw Steve leaning back on his pillows, his eyes closed and a content smile on his face. The oxygen mask was gone, and she realized that there were a few stitches near his mouth and nose as well. He looked over at her when he felt her move.

"Steve," she breathed, "you're awake."

She sat up and immediately hugged him, melting into his embrace.

"If you weren't hurt, I'd slap you," she said into his chest, tearing up. She felt him chuckle. "You promised you would be safe." She looked up, keeping her arms around him, noticing how close their faces were to each other. She could count each individual eyelash.

"I'm sorry, Nat," he said. He brought one of his hands to her cheek and wiped away a tear that had escaped.

"T-they said your heart stopped on the way here. Twice," she mumbled. "You almost died. You _were_ dead."

"But I'm fine now," he responded, his hand still on her cheek. She leaned into it and smiled.

"I know."

"C'mere." He let go of her face and scooted over, gesturing for her to get in the bed next to him. She gingerly slid in, careful not to hurt him. As soon as she was in, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. She breathed in his scent, glad to smell it from the real thing and not just his clothes, even though he smelled very much like a hospital.

"I missed you," she whispered.

"I missed you, too. How many of my sweatshirts did you steal?" he teased, and she felt herself blush.

"Actually Clint brought this for me."

"That doesn't answer my question."

A beat.

"A lot."

Steve chuckled and pulled her even closer just as the door opened. The others came in quietly, but upon seeing that Steve was awake, they cheered.

"Steven! You are awake!" Thor boomed, throwing his arms in the air. One of the takeout bags he was holding started to fall, but he quickly caught it.

"Don't you dare drop my food, Point Break," Tony said, setting his bag on the counter and walking over to the foot of Steve's bed. "Glad you're awake, Capsicle. Red here was really worried." Natasha glared and Tony smiled smugly. She could see the fear behind his eyes, though, and she inwardly smirked at that.

"Oh, I'm sure she was," Steve joked, squeezing her playfully.


	7. Beers and Baseball

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those of you wanting Steve to flirt more, I think you'll like this chapter ;)

Thanks to the super soldier serum, Steve was better less than a week later. That's when Tony decided it would be a good time to have a team bonding session at a baseball game.

"It'll be fun," he insisted, waving eight tickets in their faces.

"Tony, do you really think it's a good idea for us to go to a baseball game?" Natasha spoke up, gesturing to Thor and Bruce.

"Thor knows Earth culture enough to not cause a scene, right buddy?" Tony asked, and Thor gave a very enthusiastic thumbs up. "And I'm pretty sure Brucie has his temper under control enough because we're all still alive so…"

"I think it'll be fun," Steve piped up. "C'mon, Nat. Please?" He gave her his puppy-dog eyes and she glared. He smirked knowing he had her beat.

"Fine, but if you guys cause a scene, I don't know you," she caved. Tony cheered and Steve grinned at her. She made sure to glare at him again (playfully), and he chuckled.

"I can't believe you agreed when Rogers asked, but not when I did," Tony huffed, crossing his arms. "And you guys say there's nothing going on."

"Because there isn't," Natasha said, walking out of the room. Tony turned to Steve, who shook his head and followed her.

"I can't believe he waited to tell us until an hour after the game started," Natasha complained, entering the elevator and pressing the button for her floor.

"It's Tony," Steve said. "I'm honestly surprised he gave us that."

Natasha sighed as they arrived on her floor and made her way into her bedroom to change out of her (Steve's) sweatpants. She pulled her shirt over her head, and Steve quickly turned around. She smirked.

"I'm decent now," she said, buttoning her black jeans. She put on a pair of black heeled boots and tugged on her leather jacket. "Let's go."

She grabbed his hand and laced their fingers together automatically, dragging him into the elevator and down to Tony's car.

"Aw, look," Tony said upon seeing them. Natasha rolled her eyes. "They're holding hands."

"Fuck off, Stark," Natasha snapped.

"Fine, fine. Legolas, Capsicle, Red, and Point Break in this car. Me, Peps, Rhodey, and Brucie in the other one. Let's get this show on the road," Tony cried, gesturing to two cars.

"I'll drive," Clint offered.

"Stark has requested that I sit up front with Barton," Thor said cheerfully, and Tony facepalmed. Natasha raised an eyebrow at him but didn't say anything as she and Steve took their seats in the back.

"Remember, there are other people in this car, too," Clint said from the driver's seat. "Keep it PG."

Natasha flipped him off and he giggled as they drove out of the garage.

"I haven't actually been to a baseball game since before the ice," Steve mentioned to Natasha.

"You'll love it. They're fun. I've only been to a couple myself, but they're pretty enjoyable. Did you go to them a lot in the forties?" she asked.

"Bucky and I would sneak into every game we could if I was feeling up to it," he said, smiling nostalgically. "One time we managed to save up enough money to buy a ticket each, but then we decided it was easier to just sneak in."

"Even then you managed to break every rule you could, short cake."

"You got a thing for rulebreakers, snookums?" Steve teased, and Natasha raised an eyebrow at him.

"Are you flirting with me?"

"You're acting like this is the first time that's happened," he said, but there was a faint blush on his cheeks.

"Just wanted to see how you'd react."

"Did I pass the test?"

"Depends…" Natasha said, leaning closer to him and running a finger along his cheekbone. "Will you do it some more?"

"Naaat, it has to come naturally," he whined. "If I do it on command, it's gonna be all awkward and weird."

"Oh, Stevie, you already are all awkward and weird. Come on. Say something dirty."

Steve wracked his brains for something both dirty and clever to say that wasn't too dirty. It was hard to think of something on command, especially when the girl he had fallen for just told him to talk dirty to her in front of their friends. Everything flashing through his mind wasn't even PG-13, let alone PG.

"Erm...your shoes work well with that shirt," he stammered out. Natasha barked out a laugh.

"That definitely wasn't your best," she said through giggles.

"It wasn't that bad," he replied, trying to defend himself, but he knew it was pointless. Even he could tell it sucked.

"No, that was...that was pretty bad."

"Why don't you try, then?" he challenged, and gulped when Natasha's smile changed into a smirk and she raised an eyebrow.

"Did you just challenge a master seductress to a dirty talk competition?" she asked huskily, and Steve felt the heat rush to his cheeks.

Natasha saw Clint reach behind his ears and turn off his hearing aids, and she had to hold back a laugh. Poor Clint. Thor seemed pretty oblivious to it all, or maybe he was just doing the best he could to ignore them.

"Uh…"

She leaned over so that their noses were almost touching before she changed directions and whispered in his ear. When she was done, she leaned back and smiled triumphantly. Steve's face was bright red, and when she glanced down, she noticed that the front of his pants were tighter than normal. She mentally patted herself on the back for giving America's Golden Boy a boner.

"Natasha," Steve groaned, "you can't do that!"

"Well I had to make up for someone's lack of dirtiness," she replied innocently, batting her eyelashes. Steve glared at her.

"You really wanna play it that way, don't you?" he asked. When she continued staring at him, he leaned over so that their lips brushed ever so slightly before also changing directions and whispering into her ear instead. His left hand went up her side, and his thumb brushed the underside of her breast before dropping back down and settling it on her waist. He heard her breath hitch and her breathing quicken, and he felt her heart rate speed up against his chest. When he was finished, he even went as far as to nip lightly at her ear before pulling back victoriously.

He took in the way she looked. Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes were dilated, and her chest was moving up and down with her heavy breathing. He glanced at her hand and saw that it was gripping the edge of the seat slightly. But then she blinked and shook her head, and it was all gone.

"Who knew that Captain America was this kinky?" she breathed, and Steve chuckled.

"I told you I was in the army. My Howling Commandos made sure they gave me very thorough lessons in dirty talking, among other things."

"Oh?"

Steve realized what that sounded like before shaking his head quickly.

"No! Not like that," he said. "Not hands-on, at least."

"Ah. Well someone has to give you some type of hands-on lesson," she said suggestively, leaning in and tapping her fingers on his knee.

"Oh my God!" Clint cried from the front seat. "I turn my hearing aids back on for one second and you guys are seducing each other! I turned them off for a reason, you know!" He grumbled under his breath for a minute before continuing. "Hands to yourselves!"

Steve and Natasha looked at each other, both trying not to laugh. They separated a little, and when Natasha looked back at Clint, he was muttering under his breath still.

"God, just fuck already," he muttered. "You could cut the sexual tension with a knife."

When they arrived at the stadium, Clint bolted out of the car and to Tony.

"Tony, help me," he whined. "They were seducing each other the entire ride over here. I had to turn off my hearing aids!" Tony raised his eyebrows and looked over at Steve and Natasha, who were glaring at Clint (Steve was also bright red).

"Oh! We're not together! We're just friends! Teehee!" Tony cried, putting on a high-pitched voice as if he were imitating Natasha, who was glaring at him even harder.

"Stark, you amuse me with your terrible impressions," Thor said cheerfully, slapping him on the back hard. Tony glared at him and started leading the group down to the ticket entrance.

When they got to their seats, they all ordered beers with the exception of Natasha. Instead, she pulled an entire bottle of vodka out of God knows where. She took a long swig out of it and saw Tony looking at her incredulously.

"What?"

"Did you seriously bring vodka to a baseball game?"

She just raised her eyebrows and took another long sip as her answer.

"How did you even sneak it in?" he continued.

Natasha raised an eyebrow in an "are you seriously gonna ask me that?" way before turning back to the game, which was on timeout.

"How are you liking your first twenty-first century baseball game so far, pumpkin?" Natasha asked Steve, leaning closer so that he could hear her.

"We've only been here for five minutes, honeybear," he replied with a teasing grin. "I haven't decided yet."

"Well, is it anyth—" She was interrupted by someone frantically shaking her shoulder. She turned around and saw Tony leaning over Bruce, who was sitting next to her, with a look of pure glee on his face.

"What?" she hissed.

"You and Capsicle are on the kiss cam," he answered, gesturing towards the jumbotron. Natasha looked and sure enough, there was a live recording of her and Steve with pink hearts around them.

"What's the kiss ca—" Steve started to ask, but Natasha leaned over and planted her lips on his. She felt him freeze for a second, but he responded quickly. Natasha pulled away after a few seconds to the crowd's cheering and wolf-whistling.

"That's the kiss cam," she said somewhat breathlessly. He just nodded dumbly before turning and looking straight ahead, a deep blush adorning his cheeks and a surprised look on his face. Natasha smirked before she saw Tony looking at them with wide eyes. She was surprised his jaw wasn't touching the ground. Honestly.

"What?" she asked, batting her eyelashes innocently. Tony closed his mouth and sat back in his seat, draining the rest of his beer in one gulp.

"And you said you didn't want us to cause a scene," he muttered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I threw in a Gilmore Girls reference. Hehe. Love that show. Also I know nothing about baseball, so I kinda just avoided talking about baseball altogether. Whoops.


	8. Nearness and Nightmares

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M SORRY IT'S BEEN SO LONG! Also not super happy with this chapter, but I haven't updated since September 12 so...
> 
> *mentions of past abuse/rape in the Red Room in this chapter*

Steve woke up to the sound of someone screaming a couple floors down. It wasn't very loud, and no one else could probably hear it, but his enhanced hearing was both a blessing and a curse. When he realized it was coming from Natasha's floor, he jumped out of bed and bolted to the elevator. He pressed the button for her floor frantically, telling JARVIS to get him there as fast as possible.

He found her thrashing around in bed, screaming, but still asleep. Praying that she wouldn't kill him, he grabbed her shoulders and shook her awake.

"Natasha!" he whisper-shouted. "Natasha, wake up!"

She sat up immediately, grabbing a knife from under her pillow and holding it to his throat. He quickly moved away from it, noticing her crazed eyes and realizing she wasn't quite _there_ yet.

"Natasha, it's me," he said.

She looked around and blinked before saying, "Steve?" in a small voice he'd never heard from her.

"It's me," he said. "I'm here."

He held out his arms for her, but when she made to move to him, she stopped abruptly as if something was restraining her. He looked down at her hand and noticed she had handcuffed herself to the bed frame.

"Natasha," he started slowly, "why are you handcuffed to the bed?"

She didn't answer at first, instead grabbing the key off her nightstand and unlocking the handcuffs. When she was free, she rolled out her wrist and looked at him, finally able to fall into his arms. He wrapped them around her protectively, and he felt her trembling. He realized she was crying when he felt her tears on his neck.

"In the Red Room," she began, "they would handcuff us to our beds every night. It was so we wouldn't escape. I thought I shook the habit when I joined S.H.I.E.L.D., but sometimes it comes back."

Steve's grip around her tightened automatically.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked. "Your nightmare?"

Natasha was quiet for a moment, and Steve opened his mouth to tell her that she doesn't have to, but she said, "It was about the first time I was raped. I was about eight or nine. I had won a fight, but I hesitated before killing her, so they locked me in a room and let one of the other instructors have his way with me." She chuckled humorlessly. "Eventually, I learned to tune it out."

Steve felt sick to his stomach. Natasha had just told him that she was raped enough times since she was _eight_ to tune it out.

"I'm going to kill every single one of them," he declared.

"No need. I did it myself."

"Good. They can't hurt you anymore, Nat."

She pulled away so she could look him in the eyes.

"I know."

A beat.

"Will you stay with me?"

"Always," he replied. Natasha rolled her eyes and smiled a little at his reference, and he felt his heart soar that he could cheer her up, even if it was just a tiny bit.

She fell back onto her pillow, grabbing the front of his shirt and pulling him down with her. He chuckled and got under the covers. Natasha immediately curled around him, holding onto him as if her life depended on it, and he returned the favor.

"Thank you, Steve," she mumbled sleepily.

Steve felt her breath even out, and he looked down at her and smiled. His last thought before succumbing to sleep was how peaceful she looked.

* * *

They woke up the next morning still holding each other. Natasha woke up first, not long before Steve. It was her shifting to try to get out of his grasp that woke him up.

"'S too early," he groaned, pulling her back to him. She giggled.

"It's already seven," she responded. "You need to get up. We can't throw off your sleep schedule."

"I am up. I just wanna lay here and snuggle with you."

"If you were actually up, you wouldn't be saying that."

"Sure I would. I did seduce you in the back of one of Tony's cars the other day," he pointed out as he opened his eyes for the first time that day. Natasha could get lost in those eyes if she wasn't careful.

"And you did a very good job of it, too," she said. "If Clint hadn't interrupted us, I probably would've jumped your bones right then and there." She grinned devilishly as Steve blushed.

"Naaat…" he whined. "Can you not talk about sex for five minutes? I just wanted some innocent cuddle time, and here you are talking about exhibitionism."

"You're the one that started it," she huffed. "Fine. I'll be a good girl. Will I be rewarded later?" She wiggled her eyebrows and Steve groaned.

" _Nat,"_ he scolded.

"I know, I know. I just had to say one last one. I'll stop now."

"Thank you."

They held each other in comfortable silence for half an hour before JARVIS interrupted them.

"I don't mean to disturb you, but Mr. Stark is requesting both of your presences at the breakfast table immediately."

"Okay, we'll be right down," Steve said, unwrapping his arms from around Natasha and getting out of bed. Natasha groaned.

"I don't want to eat breakfast with Stark," she said, burying her face into her pillow.

"I don't either, but you know he's going to keep bothering us until we go up there." Natasha groaned again and Steve laughed. "Don't make me pick you up and throw you over my shoulder like a sack of flour."

"Fine, fine. I'm getting up." She laid there for a couple seconds before she actually started getting out of bed. She rubbed her eyes and trudged slowly out of the room, Steve following closely behind.

When they arrived, Tony and Clint looked absolutely _delighted_.

"Why did you two come up together?" Clint asked, crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow.

"Did you sleep together?" Tony asked eagerly. Steve blushed and Natasha glared at them. Pepper hit both of them on the back of the head.

"No, we did not," Natasha answered, taking her seat in between Clint and Steve. She picked up a piece of toast from the middle of the table and took a bite out of it. She grabbed a plate and stacked a couple pancakes on top as Steve did the same. His stack was noticeably higher, however. Once they had cut up their pancakes, Natasha's right hand slowly inched its way over until it found Steve's left under the table. She laced their fingers together as she started eating.


	9. Couples and Covers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TWO UPDATES TODAY BECAUSE I THOUGHT ABOUT CLINT JUMPING IN THE VENTS AND I THOUGHT, "WOW IT'S JUST LIKE AMONG US!" SO I FINISHED THIS CHAPTER SUPER QUICKLY SO I COULD GET THIS OUT ASJSDGKJAGDFKJASGFKJGASD However, I love this chapter and I've been so excited to write it! :)

Natasha made her way into the gym at seven in the morning, yawning and rubbing her eyes. She had forced Steve to watch Disney movies with her the night before, and the coffee pot was broken that morning. The sight before her in the gym, however, was more than enough to wake her up.

Steve was furiously punching a punching bag, topless and super sweaty. Natasha watched the muscles in his back and arms working until the bag broke and flew across the room. She hoped the arousal she felt wasn't visible as she spoke up.

"What did that poor punching bag do to you?" she said, startling him. She smirked and continued. "You know, those gray sweatpants are really working for you. So is the lack of a top. You're like a Greek god or something."

Steve blushed and said, "Erm—Thanks, Nat."

He picked up a new punching bag with ease, put it on the hook, and started punching again. Natasha just stood where she was, admiring him.

"Are you going to actually work out, or did you come here just to blush like an idiot?" Steve paused his punching and turned around, crossing his arms.

"I don't blush, Rogers."

"Really? Because you should see your face right now. Do you want me to go get you a mirror?"

"Oh, so we're playing _this_ game," Natasha replied. When Steve smirked, she held eye contact with him and slowly lifted her tank top over her head. When that was gone, she stepped out of her sweatpants so that she was just in Nike Pros and a sports bra. She kept her eyes locked on his as she made her way over to the nearest treadmill. She broke eye contact when she got there as she turned it on and started running.

The next thing she knew, Steve was at the one next to hers, powering it on and immediately setting it to its highest setting. Natasha glared and bumped her speed up a bit to match his.

A few miles later, Steve turned off his treadmill and stepped off, a little breathless. Natasha, meanwhile, slammed her hand down on the power button, put her feet on the sides so that she wasn't moving, and hunched over.

"You know, standing up straight will help you breathe better," Steve said cockily.

"Fuck you, Rogers," Natasha responded harshly, holding her head up to look at him and glare.

Steve chuckled and said, "Oh, you _wish_ you could fuck me."

Natasha's jaw dropped, but he didn't see it. He was too busy making his way over to the punching bag.

Steve had to turn away from Natasha quickly. Natasha's breathlessness and heaving chest was doing things to him that he didn't need Natasha to know about. It didn't help that she looked like she was staring right into his soul when she glared at him, her eyes darker than normal for some reason...He shook his head and started rewrapping his hands.

He didn't get very far when Natasha spoke up again.

"Wanna spar?"

He looked up and saw her walking towards him. She didn't give him time to answer as she took the tape from him and chucked it across the room, and then she grabbed his hand and pulled him over to the mat.

"Was that really necessary?" he asked, glancing over at the tape now lying against the wall it had hit.

"Yes," Natasha said, reaching the mat and dropping his hand. "Yes it was."

The next thing Steve knew, he was pinned underneath Natasha. _Not a bad position to be in,_ he thought.

"I didn't know we were starting!" he cried. Natasha laughed.

"You always have to be prepared, soldier." They got up, and this time when Natasha made a move, Steve actually fought back.

Their match went on for several minutes, but even though Steve has an advantage in physical strength and stamina, Natasha was smaller, faster, and smarter than him. The match ended with Natasha wrapping her thighs around his face, taking him down, and then straddling his hips. Her hands were on either side of his arms and their faces inches from each other.

Natasha's eyes flickered down to his lips, but then she felt _him_ and smirked.

"You know, I'd offer to help you with that," she punctuated "that" by grinding her hips into him once, making him groan (it was really more of a grunt), "but we have a meeting with Hill about a mission in a little bit."

Natasha pushed herself off of Steve, extremely glad that all outward signs of her arousal could be passed off as a side effect of working out. She noticed him trying to adjust himself to hide his boner out of the corner of her eye.

"Don't bother," she said. "Are you forgetting that I was literally on top of you a few seconds ago, grinding on you? Normally I'd be all for dry humping — or more — on the gym floor, but we have a meeting to get to in half an hour, and I would like a nice, long shower."

Steve blushed and opened his mouth to most likely stammer out an apology, but Natasha turned on her heel and started to leave. When she got to the door, however, she turned back around.

"But no, seriously, you should go take care of that before seeing Hill. I know I will," she added, nodding down towards her own crotch. She winked and left for real that time, leaving a slack-jawed Steve alone to deal with the implications of what she just said.

* * *

"It's a simple undercover recon mission," Hill said, handing Natasha a file. She opened it and started glancing over it. "You're posing as newlyweds. Get in, get information, get out. No need to fight, and you should be back by dinner."

"Newlyweds?" Steve asked.

"Yes, Steve," Natasha said, still immersed in the file. "Newlyweds are people who—"

"I know what newlyweds are," Steve snapped, and Natasha smirked. She closed the file and handed it to him.

"What? Scared to have to act like you can't keep your hands off me? Honestly, I get the feeling that you won't be acting with how you are around me sometimes," she teased, and the tips of Steve's ears turned bright red. "Right, snugglebear?"

"Natasha!" Steve groaned. He looked at Hill. "We aren't—"

"You're going to have to get used to her flirting with you if this is going to be a successful mission, Cap," Hill said with a smirk. Natasha looked smug.

"We can practice on the quinjet," Natasha said, standing up, grabbing his arm, and dragging him out of the room.

"P-practice?" Steve stammered. "Wait, Natasha! I haven't even read the file yet! Won't we need rings? We don't have any rings. And clothes! We need disguises and—"

"Relax," Natasha said, shifting so that she was next to him and dropping her hand down to his. She gave it a quick squeeze before she let go and started getting ahead of him again. "Everything's on the quinjet."

* * *

Hill was right. They were back and debriefed before a late dinner. As they sat with the team and had their occasional-which-is-now-starting-to-turn-into-every-day team dinner, Natasha thought back to the mission. More specifically, the kiss on the mission.

They were house hunting as newlyweds in a neighborhood their target was in. Once the tour was over, Steve and Natasha had to take a little "stroll" through the neighborhood. When they got to the target's house, there were neighbors also taking a walk, and they obviously just couldn't stand there and stare at the house before they went and snooped in it. That would be suspicious. So what did Natasha decide to do? She turned to Steve, grabbed his face with both of her hands, and brought his lips down to hers in a _filthy_ kiss. It was definitely much filthier than needed, but it was an excuse to make out with him under the guise of something else. She wasn't going to let that pass, especially not after the gym that morning.

"Lady Natasha, are you okay?" Thor boomed, bringing her out of her reverie.

"What? Oh yeah. I'm fine," she said airily, taking a bite of her food.

"You look flushed," Bruce piped up.

"I'm fine," she repeated. "Actually, I think I'm gonna turn in now. I'm a little tired after that mission."

She got up and went to leave the room, but when everyone had turned back to their food, she caught Steve's eye and winked at him.

So what if she had to pull out her vibrator for the second time that day? That certainly wasn't her record, _and_ she got to make out with Steve that day. It seemed like a pretty fantastic day for her.


	10. Movies and Mornings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi! it's been forever sorry about that

“Let’s go to the movies!” a voice said brightly, startling Steve out of his sleep. He sat straight up, bumping heads with the voice’s owner. “Ow!”

“Nat?” Steve said looking over and seeing Natasha rubbing her forehead. “What time is it?”

“Three-thirty!” she said cheerfully.

“Why are you in my room at three-thirty?”

“Because I want to go to the movies,” she whined, grabbing his arm and pulling him out of the bed. He reluctantly got up.

“At three-thirty in the morning?”

“Yup!”

_ “...Why?” _

“Why not, Rogers?” Natasha made her way over to his dresser and started pulling out jeans and a gray Henley and threw it at him. “Get dressed.”

“What movie are we seeing? Are movie theaters even open now?”

“Sure they are. And I was thinking that we could watch  _ Under the Skin _ . It’s about this extraterrestrial who disguises herself as a woman that seduces men and eats them,” she said excitedly. Steve, however, felt sick. “I felt it was very fitting given my name and occupation. Plus, I have to say, the actress in it is, like, the spitting image of me.”

“You’re cracked.”

“You love it.”

Steve rolled his eyes, ignoring the fact that yes, he did, and went into the bathroom to change.

“Why are you changing in the bathroom, you prude?” Natasha yelled through the door, banging her fist on it. “You’d be doing me a favor if you changed out here.”

Steve could practically hear her wink as he pulled his jeans over his hips, and he rolled his eyes.

“Why are you so chatty at three-thirty in the morning?”

“Lots and lots of coffee,” she answered. “I drank my entire supply. Which reminds me...on the way home from the movie can we get some more coffee?”

“How did you drink all of the coffee?” Steve asked as he pulled his shirt over his head. He opened the door and came face-to-face with Natasha on the other side.

“Big gulps, lots of sugar,” she said. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that she was  _ vibrating _ . Actually  _ vibrating _ . “Have you seen  _ Gilmore Girls _ ? That’s a reference from that. It’s a good show. I don’t know if you’d like it, though. I feel like you might be indifferent to it. You tend to like more action-y things. Although, you liked  _ Gossip Girl _ , which really surprised me, so maybe you might like  _ Gilmore Girls _ ...They aren’t super similar, but you’re just full of surprises, so maybe…”

“Natasha?”

“Yeah?”

“Shut up,” he said, gripping the sides of her arms lightly. He let go and grabbed his leather jacket, putting it on as he walked out the door. “Let’s go, and we’re not getting coffee on the way back. You don’t need anymore for a while.”

“Oh, come on, Steve! I need my coffee,” Natasha argued, following close behind. “Tea just isn’t doing it for me. I’m living in the same tower as Stark. I need all the coffee and vodka I can get. Luckily, I still have three bottles of vodka left...I might need to get more soon…” They stepped in the elevator and JARVIS started taking them down to the ground floor.

“Nat, I know you have more control over your body than this, so I know you’re just doing it to annoy me,” Steve said. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. “So shut up.”

“Make me,” Natasha teased, turning to face him. He faced her as well, both eyebrows raised.

“Oh yeah?” When Natasha just stood there with her arms crossed, a look of  _ try me _ on her face, he pushed her against the elevator wall. Not too hard, but hard enough for her to make an  _ oof! _ sound when her back made contact. He only had her pinned there for a split second because before either of them could react, the elevator opened up to the lobby.

Natasha grabbed his wrist and pulled him out of the elevator and out the door.

* * *

When they got to the movie theater (it wasn’t very far from the tower), Natasha bought two tickets — Natasha had made a point to make sure Steve “forgot” his wallet as payback for that lunch — to  _ Under the Skin _ from a grumpy man who clearly did not want to be working in a ticket booth at nearly four in the morning. The grumpy ticket man was also the same guy who gave them their giant bucket of popcorn and jumbo Coke.

“Thank you!” Natasha said cheerfully, gesturing for Steve to get the food and starting towards the entrance to the theaters.

Grumpy ticket-and-popcorn-and-coke guy muttered something about “psychopaths at a movie theater at four AM” under his breath, and Natasha snorted.

“What?” Steve asked, laden with popcorn and coke and catching up to her.

“Nothing,” she responded. “Oh, this is us.”

The theater was completely empty. Natasha led Steve to seats right in the center of the room and sat down. They were still showing the previews before the previews, so Natasha turned to Steve and struck up a conversation.

“Have you ever been to a movie theater in this century?”

“Nat, you literally forced me to watch  _ Her _ and  _ Snowpiercer  _ here a month ago.”

“I mean I figured  _ Her  _ was good because it’s about the future and you woke up in the future—”

“It just confused me even more than I already was.”

“—and Chris Evans looks a shit-ton like you. He’s the guy in  _ Snowpiercer _ . It made me wanna see you with a beard even more.”

Natasha reached into the bucket of popcorn that was sitting on Steve’s lap and grabbed a handful. She shoved the popcorn into her mouth before taking a long swig of the Coke.

They fell into easy conversation about Steve growing a beard until the movie started. Natasha frantically shushed him before she turned back towards the screen. As the movie played, Natasha grabbed Steve’s arm and wrapped it around her shoulders, resting her head on his shoulder. Steve raised an eyebrow but tightened his hold on her.

* * *

After the movie was done — with way too many lingering touches in the popcorn bowl that made Natasha’s heart jump every time — and Natasha unwrapped herself from Steve, she grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the theater. Steve stuck the empty Coke cup in the empty popcorn bucket and threw it away on his way out.

“You were not kidding when you said she looks like you,” Steve said as Natasha linked her arm through his and pulled him out of the theater and back to Avengers Tower. It was already around six, but the sun still hadn’t risen.

“She’s my celebrity doppelgänger. I bet I would be her in another life,” Natasha said wistfully.

“I bet you would. I mean you have the exact same face, voice, and body structure,” Steve agreed.

“Oh? You’ve been staring at both mine  _ and _ ScarJo’s body?”

“I—erm…”

“I’m just messing with you. Wanna get caught up on our sleep? I’m sure the team won’t miss us. We’ll tell JARVIS to let us sleep,” Natasha suggested as they got back to the tower.

“We’re definitely going to get teased about why we’re sleep-deprived,” Steve pointed out, “but yes. Your room? It’s closer.”

“We can just say we had nightmares. That’ll make ‘em stop. And yes. My room. I’m about to fall asleep standing up,” Natasha said, and she told JARVIS to take them to her floor. “We do have to be up before five tonight, though. We’re only missing a few hours of sleep, so that shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Why? Do we have a mission?”

“No. Thor’s going back to Asgard and we’re all going to say goodbye then. I don’t know  _ why _ , though. I mean, Thor’s come and gone several times and the only time we actually went with him to say goodbye was after New York…”

“I’m sure he’ll appreciate it.”

“Mm.”

Not long after that, Natasha locked her bedroom door behind them and stripped down so that she was just in her underwear. Before Steve even had a chance to avert his eyes, she had literally jumped in bed and got under the covers.

“Are you getting in or are you just gonna stand there looking like a fish?” Natasha asked with her eyes closed, rolled onto her side and buried up to her chin in the blankets.

Steve immediately closed his mouth, tried to fight the blush on his face, and stripped down to his boxers. He got under the covers, but kept about two feet of space in between them. He almost fell off the edge and scooted about an inch closer.

Natasha rolled her eyes and moved closer to him, wordlessly telling him to do the same. He took the hint a second later, and when she felt his arm lightly brush her back, she grabbed it and wrapped it around her.

“Natasha, you’re  _ naked _ .”

“I’m wearing underwear.”

“You mean that black lacy string around your hips?”

“It’s called a  _ thong _ , Rogers. Those jeans were tight and I didn’t want underwear lines.” She turned so that they were facing each other, and Steve gulped. “Don’t be a baby. We’re just sleeping. I’m just way too tired to put on a shirt.”

“You mean you’re way too tired to put on one of my shirts.”

“Exactly.”

Natasha cuddled closer to him, closing her eyes again. She had to fight the urge to take a deep breath and breathe in his scent, so she settled for an imperceptible sniff here and there. A few minutes later, she was sound asleep.

Steve smiled as he kissed her hair before he, too, fell asleep.

* * *

They woke up around one-thirty. Steve woke first, a little disoriented. It wasn’t until he noticed Natasha’s almost-naked body pressed up against his, her arms wrapped around him loosely and her leg draped over his hips that he remembered where he was. He noticed that her free leg was tangled together with one of his, and his arms were wrapped around her tiny waist. He chuckled, waking her up.

“Good afternoon,” he said.

“Hmm?” she asked, bringing her right hand up to rub her eyes. She returned it to his waist. “What time is it?”

“One-thirty. We got an extra seven hours.”

“Tony and Clint are gonna really enjoy this.”

“Nightmares, remember? It was your idea, after all,” Steve mentioned. Natasha nodded.

“Can we pretend our nightmares were really bad and just cuddle here for a bit?” she asked, and Steve chuckled again.

“Of course, doll.”

Unfortunately, Tony Stark had different ideas.

“Get your asses out of bed,” his voice said over the intercom. He must have told JARVIS to let him talk instead of playing a message. “I changed team breakfast to team lunch since two of our most notable members were going to be absent. Seems pretty suspicious to me, especially considering JARVIS told me that I would only need to broadcast this to one room…”

“Remind me to recode JARVIS,” Natasha mumbled sleepily, her face buried in Steve’s bare chest. She felt the vibrations of his chuckle against her cheek.

“We better get up and get dressed before Tony decides to come in here himself,” Steve said, and Natasha groaned.

“But you’re so warm,” she protested. She tightened her grip around his waist, and Steve had to pry her hands off of him in order to get up.

“If Tony comes up and sees us like this, he’ll annoy us even more and tell everyone we had sex. Just imagine all the Cold War jokes.”

“Ugh. Fine.” Natasha sat up, the covers falling off of her chest, and Steve immediately averted his eyes. He turned around, beetroot red, and found his clothes and put them on.

“You’re so easy,” Natasha said with a laugh. “You’re going to die solely from embarrassment. It’s not going to be some epic hero thing. It’s going to be from embarrassment. All I have to do is be topless and I can practically see the steam rising from your face.”

Natasha dug through her drawers until she found one of Steve’s shirts. She put it on, along with a pair of joggers.

“Alright. I’m decent,” she said. “Let’s go get lunch.”

* * *

“Red and Capsicle  _ finally _ came out of their little cave,” Tony announced as they entered the kitchen. Natasha rolled her eyes. “So tell me, Cap. How’s the sex? Because I feel like sex between a super soldier and a master seductress would be—”

“And that’s enough,” Pepper said, grabbing Tony’s ear and dragging him away. He barely missed the knife that Natasha threw at him. Steve looked at her questioningly.

“Wh-when did you get a knife?”

“I always have a knife on me, Rogers.”

“But—”

_ “Always.” _

“You still didn’t answer my question,” Tony chimed in, earning himself a smack upside the head from Pepper.

“We didn’t have sex,” Natasha said.

“You two slept in the same room,” Clint piped up, and Tony nodded vigorously in agreement.

Natasha shrugged.

“Sometimes the nightmares are worse than normal,” she said nonchalantly, effectively shutting Tony and Clint up. She even pulled her sleeve a little to add to the effect, knowing Clint would catch it. She saw his eyes flicker to her wrist and then back to her face, more concerned than they were before. She inwardly smiled triumphantly.

* * *

Hours later, it was time to say goodbye to Thor before he left for Asgard.

“It was great to visit you, Midgardians,” he boomed, standing a little ways from the group so he would have room to leave.

He had already said their goodbyes to each of them individually, though he combined Natasha’s and Steve’s.

“I hope you two find great happiness in your relationship,” he had said, patting Steve on the shoulder. Steve blushed and stuttered and Natasha raised her eyebrows. They didn’t get to correct him, though, because he had moved onto Bruce right after that.

When the light from the bifrost disappeared and everyone had regained their proper vision, they went back inside.

“So…” Tony started with a devilish smirk. “‘Relationship?’”

“It’s Thor,” Natasha said exasperatedly. “You can’t listen to him on these things. We’re not actually in a relationship.”

“Yet,” Clint piped up, and he and Tony started snickering. Natasha rolled her eyes, grabbed Steve’s wrist, and pulled him into the elevator.

“Don’t talk to me until you’ve grown up,” she said as the doors closed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: I’ve never actually seen Gossip Girl. Also at this point, they’re just being stupid, and I’m trying to drag this out as long as possible :) Not too long, though, because I’m impatient. Honestly, they’re basically married at this point.


	11. Touch Bracelets and Truth or Dare

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Brace (hehe get it? It’s kind of a pun. Brace. Bracelets.) yourself for so. much. fluff.
> 
> I think you guys are really gonna like this one ;)

Steve was sitting in the common room with the other Avengers when Natasha pranced into the room and sat directly on his lap. He closed his sketchbook — a little embarrassed because the subject of his current sketch was _sitting on his lap_ — and blushed heavily. Tony, Clint, and Bruce all looked upon the situation with raised eyebrows.

_“Steeeeeeve,”_ Natasha whined, wrapping her arms around his neck, “can we go shopping?”

“Shopping?” Steve questioned. Natasha nodded. “Why do you want to go shopping?”

“Their nonstop flirting is going to make me puke,” Tony stage-whispered to Clint. Steve and Natasha ignored them.

“Because I do,” she replied. “Can we? Please?”

“Fine,” Steve relented, “but I’m not carrying your bags.”

“Oh, he is so carrying her bags,” Tony said.

“Whipped,” Clint coughed. Steve glared at him.

“Yay! Thank you!” Natasha squealed, leaning over and giving him a quick kiss on the corner of his mouth. Steve blushed deeply, and everyone else in the room raised their eyebrows. Natasha ignored them and got off Steve’s lap, practically skipping over to the elevator.

“Are you coming or not?” she called, and Steve quickly scrambled to follow her.

“I’m coming, I’m coming,” he said.

Natasha giggled.

“That’s what she said.”

“Natasha—”

“I mean I can make you come if that’s what you want…”

“I feel like I’m intruding,” Bruce said to Tony and Clint, who were both watching with rapt attention.

“I’m intrigued,” Tony said, and Clint nodded in agreement.

“Natasha, I swear to God…”

“Relax, Rogers. I’m just joking,” she said, grabbing his wrist and pulling him into the newly-opened elevator. “Unless…”

The last thing Tony, Clint, and Bruce saw was Steve flicking Natasha in the head as the elevator doors closed.

“You are gonna be the death of me,” Steve said once they were in private. Natasha grinned and wrapped her arms around his neck, making their noses brush.

“My offer still stands,” she whispered seductively. Steve shivered as he felt her hot breath touch his lips.

“Nat…” he warned, flushing furiously.

Natasha giggled and brushed her lips to his ever so slightly before the doors to the elevator dinged open and she pulled away.

“Don’t just stand there staring at me like that,” she called back. “It’s embarrassing, and the elevator doors are about to close, and you’ll be all the way back at the top. Chop chop, honey.”

Steve regained his bearings and jogged after her. Natasha smirked as he fell into step beside her and slipped her hand into his.

“You’re a tease,” he said, lacing their fingers together.

“Oh, I know. It’s what I do best.”

* * *

“Oh, Steve!” Natasha called, getting Steve’s attention from where he was looking at a weird gadget and trying to figure out what the hell it was. “Come over here!”

Steve put down the gadget and stuffed his hands in his pockets, shuffling over to Natasha awkwardly.

“Those teenage girls are giving me weird looks…” he said.

“That’s because you’re Captain America _and_ you’re hot. Ignore them,” she said and Steve blushed. “Look at these!”

She shoved a small box in his face, and Steve leaned back to focus on it better.

“What is this?”

“Bond bracelets! Can we get them? Please?” she begged.

“What are they?”

“They’re bracelets that you and someone else wear and when you tap them it sends a little buzz to the other person. Can we get them?”

“You’re just gonna tap it over and over again to annoy me.”

“Exactly.”

Steve took the box from her hand and looked it over.

“Nat, these are for people in a relationship.”

“Well, we’re basically in a relationship anyways,” she argued, “just without the sex. And you don’t need to be in a relationship to have them.”

“Okay, okay,” Steve agreed. “I have a feeling you’re gonna get them no matter what I say.”

“You know me so well,” Natasha said, standing on her tiptoes and pressing a kiss to his cheek. Her lips lingered there for a tad bit longer than needed.

When she pulled away, she flashed him a dazzling smile, turned over her shoulder, and practically _bounced_ over to the register. Steve followed closely behind.

“Aw, are you two together?” the cashier, who looked to be in her late teens, gushed.

Steve blushed deeply and tried to stammer out a reply, but Natasha just smiled brightly and linked her arm through his.

“Yes, we’ve been together for a little over two years now,” she said.

“You two are so cute,” the cashier said.

“Thank you!”

After they paid, Natasha grabbed Steve’s hand as they walked out of the store, stopping just outside of the door. She turned to him and leaned up and gave him a soft kiss on the lips.

“What was that for?” Steve asked bemusedly.

“The girl was watching us walk away. Might as well give her a show,” Natasha said, shrugging and pulling him away from the store.

Out of the corner of her eye, Natasha saw the girl beam, and she smirked.

She might have said it was just for show, but she really just wanted an excuse to kiss Steve. If she gets to put on a little show for her (and other’s) entertainment, well…that’s just an added bonus.

As they walked through the mall in a comfortable silence, their shoulders brushing and their fingers intertwined, Steve couldn’t stop reeling about what happened back at the store. The fact that that was their first real kiss not for a mission (or a kiss cam!) was not lost on him, even if she did say it was just for show.

He also couldn’t stop thinking about what she said in the store.

_“Well, we’re basically in a relationship anyways, just without the sex.”_

What was that supposed to mean? Did they really act that much like a couple that even _Natasha_ was willing to openly admit it?

The only thing he was certain about in their relationship anymore was that he would not be against the idea of them having sex. Definitely not.

And he was sure Natasha would agree with him, as well.

“Hey, Steve,” Natasha piped up, breaking the silence, “aside from being sexy, what do you do for a living?”

“What?” Steve asked, blushing. Natasha snickered. “Nat, we’re coworkers.”

“It’s a pick-up line, Steve. Here’s another one: know what my shirt’s made out of?” Steve shook his head. “Girlfriend material. There. Now you try one.”

“Um…I really like…your face…”

“Steve, that was terrible,” Natasha said bluntly. “Did you just come out of the oven? Because you’re hot.”

“Um…”

“Can I borrow a kiss? I promise I’ll give it back.”

“Oh!”

Natasha started giggling and then said, “What did you say your name was? I want to make sure I’m screaming the right name tonight.”

_“Natasha!”_

“Are you a trampoline?” Natasha asked, giggling uncontrollably. “Because I want to bounce on you.”

“Let’s play Titanic. You’ll be the iceberg, and I’ll go down,” Steve chimed in, grinning mischievously.

_“Steve!”_ Natasha gasped. “I didn’t know you had it in you.”

“I guess I’m just full of surprises.”

“Were you playing dumb with me?” Steve shrugged. “There is _no_ way you just came up with that off the top of your head. You definitely have spent your free time looking at dirty pickup lines online. Steve, you scandal!”

Just then, Natasha’s phone dinged and she pulled it out, reading the message and rolling her eyes.

“Clint is begging us to come back now. They want to have dinner and then do obligatory team bonding.”

“Oh, come on, Nat. Team bonding is a good way to—”

“Steve?”

“Yeah?”

“Shut the fuck up.”

* * *

“Natasha!!!!” Clint cried, running up to the two of them and giving them a bear hug. “Steve!!!!”

“Are you drunk already?” Natasha asked, throwing him off of her. “It’s literally barely six o’clock, and we aren’t at a party. We haven’t even had dinner!”

“We can skip dinner for now. We’ll come back to that later,” an equally-drunk Tony chimed in. “Right now, let’s play truth or dare!”

Natasha audibly groaned while Clint cheered.

“And Nat! Look who’s here!”

Clint gestured wildly behind him to Maria Hill, who was standing in the common room looking annoyed.

“Fury sent me to get paperwork from Stark, and now he’s not letting me leave until I play truth or dare with them,” she explained. “He gave specific instructions to JARVIS to not let me get into the elevator.”

“I’m sorry,” Natasha said. “Let’s just get this over with.”

They sat down in a circle on the floor. Natasha sat next to Steve and rested her head on his shoulder. Clint mimed throwing up when he saw them.

“If you chicken out, you have to take a shot!” Clint proclaimed once everyone was settled. Tony nodded in agreement and made sure everyone had a shot glass and a bottle of their favorite liquor.

“I’ll go first!” Tony shrieked. “Brucie Bear! Truth or dare? Hehe. That rhymes.”

“Truth,” Bruce, who was not drunk, answered.

“You’re no fun,” Tony whined. “When did you lose your virginity?”

“In college,” Bruce said. “I think it was my sophomore year. Clint, truth or dare?”

“Dare!” Clint yelled.

“I dare you to…” Bruce tapped his finger on his chin as if he were deep in thought. “I dare you to lick Tony’s foot.”

“Ew,” Natasha muttered, and Steve nodded in agreement.

“That’s fucking disgusting,” Clint said. “Shoes off, Tony.”

Once Clint sat back down and Tony’s foot was licked, Clint turned to Natasha with a shit-eating grin.

“Nat, truth or dare?’

“Dare. I’m not a coward.”

“I dare you to text the last person you hooked up with,” Clint announced triumphantly, crossing his arms and wearing a victorious expression on his face. Natasha rolled her eyes. Clearly they thought Steve’s phone was about to go off.

“Okay,” she said, pulling out her phone and completing the dare. A second later, Maria’s phone dinged and everybody’s eyes widened.

Everyone looked between Maria, who had a faint blush on her cheeks, and Natasha, who was biting her lip to keep from bursting out into a fit of laughter, with shock.

“You hooked up with our Deputy Director?” Clint said. “Damn, girl. I expected it to be Stevie over there.”

“We have quite a few times, actually,” Natasha admitted, sending Maria a wink. “It’s been a couple weeks, and I’m horny as _fuck_ ,” she looked up and shot Steve a pointed glare, “but we’re both busy, and I’ve got my eye on someone else.”

“I think we all know who that someone else is!” Tony cheered. “Sorry, Red. It’s not your turn anymore. As the owner of this building, I am making it my turn again. Capsicle, truth or dare?”

Steve squirmed, and Natasha whispered, “Pick dare!”

She knew _exactly_ what Tony was up to.

And she wanted it to happen.

“Fine. Dare,” Steve said.

Tony, who looked like Christmas had just come early, cheered and said, “I dare you to make out with Natasha for at least a minute.”

Natasha grinned, and Steve glared at her, as if saying, _You knew what he was gonna do_. Natasha just shrugged in response.

“Pucker up, Cap,” Clint said. “We have a timer ready.”

“You heard the man,” Natasha said, twisting so that she had a clear view of his face. “Pucker up, Cap.”

“I can’t believe you’re going along with it.”

“What? It’s not every day you get to kiss a hot supersoldier with no consequences.”

“But we—”

“If you’re not gonna do it, I will.”

“Fine,” Steve grumbled, leaning in and capturing her lips with his.

Natasha was quick to bring her hands up to his face and hold it to her even harder before lacing her fingers through his hair and gripping. Steve growled and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her so that she was sitting on his lap, and she wrapped her legs around his torso. Her tongue poked out and she swiped it across the seam of his lips, which he happily opened for her. As their tongues tangled together, Natasha rolled her hips down into Steve’s once, causing them both to groan into each other’s mouths. The timer went off, and they pulled apart slowly, but not before Natasha gave him one last peck.

After she got off his lap, she turned and saw everyone’s shocked faces and open mouths. Clint’s phone was still on the timer app, and Tony was holding up his, obviously having taken a video of them. Natasha glared at him.

“Are you sure you aren’t together?” Clint asked.

“I’m sure,” Natasha deadpanned. “You know us. We like to go above and beyond. Plus it’s fun giving you a show. And now I’m even hornier than I was earlier, so me and Steve are just gonna head out.”

_“What?”_ Steve whimpered, but Natasha just grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the elevator.

“Hey! What about team bonding?” Clint cried.

“Unless you want us to fuck right there in the middle of the floor, I would suggest letting us leave, Clinton.”

“Go!” everyone screamed. Except Tony, who said, “Please stay!”

Natasha flipped him off and dragged Steve out of the room.

As soon as the elevator doors shut, Natasha took one look at Steve’s bright red face and burst out laughing.

“Don’t worry,” she laughed. “We aren’t actually fucking. I just figured I’d get us out of there. But I mean, if you want to…”

“Dear God, Natasha,” Steve said.

“Movie it is, then. Have we finished _The Hunger Games_ yet?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Imagine her brushing her lips against his in the elevator kind of like that hallway scene in Don Jon where Scarly leans in a bit and then pulls away. In this, their lips brush a bit but it’s the same thing otherwise hehe
> 
> I was also really tempted just to make them get together here, but I have a plan for this story. I just made them make out instead. Modern problems require modern solutions.


End file.
